Who needs sailors anyway?

[Kirkhill]

The cost of doing things conventionally

The Navy's shipyard upgrades could take 50 years, cost $200 billion

A new report from the Government Accountability Office found that the program lacks regular evaluations and risks running up its costs.

taskandpurpose.com

Sometimes you just have to do the other thing.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Autonomous FARP on a barge.

A 54,000-pound twin-rotor special operations helicopter set down on a self-driving drone barge holding position with nobody aboard, took on supplies right on deck, and the landing is the first of its kind the American public has been told about

Most people can pick a Chinook out of a lineup even if they couldn't name another helicopter on Earth. It's the big twin-rotor machine shaped like a flying

www.autonocion.com

I hate to burst the US government 's bubble, but if that is a picture of the event, then I call bull!

That barge is not driving anywhere: It s a t anchor forward (you can see the chain at a 30 degrees angle going in the water) and held for direction by being made fast to a buoy aft (you can see the buoy and the line pulling on it in the water below the helicopter in the picture).

That barge neither anchored nor made itself fast to a buoy by itself - people were onboard to do it.

 

[Kirkhill]

U.S. Special Forces Operate Helicopter From Autonomous Barge for the First Time - Naval News

The U.S. Army's 160th SOAR has landed an MH-47G Chinook on an autonomous Sea Machines barge for the first time, advancing naval logistics and drone integration.

www.navalnews.com

Sea Machines Signs Contract To Create Autonomous VTOL Replenishment Vessels - Naval News

Sea Machines Robotics, announced on August 5, that it has advanced its multi-year Other Transaction (OT) agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).

www.navalnews.com

Sea Machines - AUTONOMY WITHOUT LIMITS - Sea Machines Robotics

Sea machines is revolutionizing marine technology with data-driven intelligence, autonomy, and connectivity. Learn more about autonomous marine technology.

sea-machines.com

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

There are two other points here: If that helicopter crashed on deck, the crew is basically dead, and no one is coming to put out the fire. Second: the actual resupplying of the helicopter (fuel, etc.) has to be done by the helicopter crew. And what about the actual load the helicopter is there to pick up to support whichever force? Is that load going to prepare itself from stores by itself and then connect itself to the helicopter also by itself?

My question overall, what's the point? Isn't there much greater flexibility in an actual support vessel with a crew?

All I see her is a barge with fuel that basically drives itself around, but the crew of the helicopter or of the vessel that comes alongside for fuel has to do all the work of refueling/replenishing itself from the store. Not a big deal.

 

[Kirkhill]

Plymouth-built uncrewed boat armed with Sea Venom missile

A twelve-metre armed uncrewed surface vessel built near Plymouth has been launched carrying MBDA's Sea Venom anti-ship missile.

ukdefencejournal.org.uk

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I hate to burst the US government 's bubble, but if that is a picture of the event, then I call bull!

That barge is not driving anywhere: It s a t anchor forward (you can see the chain at a 30 degrees angle going in the water) and held for direction by being made fast to a buoy aft (you can see the buoy and the line pulling on it in the water below the helicopter in the picture).

That barge neither anchored nor made itself fast to a buoy by itself - people were onboard to do it.

Clearly they never seen a helilogging operation before either. I have seen Chinooks, S61 and the US version of the Lab all operate off of barges in austere locations more than 2 decades ago.

 

[Kirkhill]

Saronic Awarded Production Contract for Marauder Under U.S. Navy’s MUSV Marketplace - Naval News

Saronic Technologies has been awarded a production Other Transaction (OT) under the U.S. Navy’s Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) Marketplace for Marauder, the company’s dual-use 180-foot autonomous ship.

www.navalnews.com

"Saronic successfully completed a rigorous evaluation of Marauder’s performance. Over eight days of continuous, 24/7 operations, Marauder completed more than 140 test scenarios without failure. The trials were designed to test the limits of the vessel’s autonomous capabilities and included autonomously tracking and maneuvering around a variety of vessels, as well as a battery of passive-perception tests.


"In these passive-perception scenarios, Marauder was required to detect, track, and follow other vessels using only its passive onboard sensors, without reliance on active radar. This capability is regarded as one of the more difficult technical challenges in autonomous maritime systems. Every scenario in the evaluation was conducted with the same platform that the Navy has now put under contract with the trials completed back-to-back in continuous operations to demonstrate the vessel’s real-world capabilities.


"“Marauder went from initial design to on-the-water in under a year, and this evaluation demonstrated that the platform holds up under the Navy’s own toughest testing,” said Dino Mavrookas, CEO and Co-Founder of Saronic. “We’ve now flipped our third Marauder hull, with several more moving through the production line behind it."

 

[Kirkhill]

HII Wins U.S. Navy Contract for 10 ROMULUS USVs - Naval News

HII was awarded a contract by the U.S. Navy to build 10 ROMULUS unmanned surface vessels (USVs) for the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) program.

www.navalnews.com